Unbreakable Bond 🌶

Matthias

~The beginning of the end is near.~

I could smell Devina’s scent from miles away. But she was close… very close.

My Rogues and I had been traveling for what seemed like an eternity through the forests of the Amazon. We had even been attacked by a group of five witches who fancied themselves as vigilantes.

No doubt one of the few covens that weren’t in league with Devina. The two we left dead in our wake proved enough of a warning to stop the other three from following.

Not that it mattered. In only a short time we would reunite with the rest of our followers.

“Over here!” one of my soldiers shouted.

We knew the general location of Devina’s coven from our radio communication, but the forest was a wild bitch that refused to be tamed. Without GPS, it was damn near impossible to find an exact location.

I sent out a squadron to help find the coven. It had been hours since the men left and still we’d heard nothing.

But that smell… sage, oleander and a hint of Fairy Slipper… it filled my lungs and gave me the power to keep pressing forward.

Ever since our defeat at the hands of Ekon and his pack, I felt desperate to regain my once great power. My charred and peeling skin, checkered with oozing boils, reminded me that there was still a long way to go before I would regain my full power.

Devina had played her hand much too quickly. She forced Ekon to stop us before we could carry out our full agenda…

In the wake of our defeat, we had carried out several successful attacks throughout the States while my mole had moved unseen at the Supernatural Parliament. This time, our hand was played perfectly. My half-brother was down to his last chip.

The U.S. government feared what we could accomplish and had cracked down on the packs. It was a victory I anticipated. President Nelson knew nothing of the differences between packs and Rogues. His human ignorance allowed my group time to escape and gather more forces.

All of this time waiting for our resurgence. And now, we were only days away.

My men pushed through the brush, knocking aside a massive boa that threatened our path. The tree line broke, revealing a large clearing in an otherwise overgrown forest.

On the far side of the clearing loomed a massive hill. Cut inside the hill, as if by the hand of the Moon Goddess, was a cave. Torches lit the opening, flickering welcomingly.

As we approached, Devina’s smell grew stronger, letting me know we had truly found her.

“Why have you come?” a voice asked from the darkness.

I growled in response, signaling one of my men to step forward. He wielded a large machete, threatening the disembodied voice.

“You will show respect!” the Rogue demanded.

“Respect for a walking corpse and his band of outcasts?” the voice taunted.

“The man who stands before you is none other than Matthias, Leader of the Rogues, Conqueror of All!”

The voice began to laugh but was suddenly cut off, replaced by a shrill gurgling. Suddenly the witch’s limp body was tossed to the ground outside the cave. The owner of the voice was now dead…

I readied myself for an altercation and my men drew their knives, understanding we were not welcome here in No Wolf’s Land.

But the figure that emerged from the cave halted all of our fears, filling us instead with awe and wonder.

~Devina.~

She was as alluring as ever, dressed in her red cloak and emanating a soft glow that made her look like a goddess. I could appreciate such beauty, even in my sister. My men gasped at the sight of her, and I knew some probably wished to take her to bed.

But there were plenty of other witches to seduce. This one would castrate you on the spot and smile while she fried your balls just so you could smell them cooking.

“Matthias,” she said, her voice smooth and silken. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Tyler

~This was it.~

~One prison to another.~

~This would be my curse for the remainder of my days.~

I could hear dripping from deep inside the cave, causing me to lick my lips. It had been hours since I received food or water and no one would give me any answers.

A handful of witches would come and go… usually taunting me… calling me names like “prison whore” and “Grandma’s bitch.” I spat on the ground and watched my last drops of saliva collect into a tiny pool of mud.

Long ago, I learned how to make use of scarce resources. In the past, my powers would’ve allowed me to form a deep pond from the tiniest drop of water…

But all those years in prison had drained my magical energy. If only I had some Fairy Slippers... I felt useless and alone.

Even after I was freed from the penitentiary with a promise to help others, it had all been a ruse. Just so I could be punished for the life I had lived… the life I’d been forced to live…

~What is my purpose?~

Had I been born simply to be manipulated into a tool for the darkness? Only to be thrown away and discarded into an ever deeper, more meaningless existence...

Bambi tried to help me. She was one of the few who truly believed in me. She could see past the outer layer as she searched for the real me… my real emotions… realizing that I never wanted to hurt anyone.

After my parents were killed, my only wish was to be loved. To be wanted.

Devina promised me that, only to toss me aside when I couldn’t fulfill her horrific plans. But she had left me with this mark that would never go away. A thankless brand that would forever remind others of my allegiance to evil.

I looked at my mark and watched its faint glow pulse on my wrist.

Devina was close. That much I knew. And because of that knowledge, I was absolutely fucking terrified.

It seemed as though I could never be free of her curse. As long as she lived, there would always be the possibility I could fall under her control again.

Approaching footsteps pulled my attention back toward the darkness of the cave. A light glow began to emanate as two figures approached.

I gasped and recoiled, hitting the back bars of my cage.

Devina, clothed in a cloak of blood-red, entered the small cavern.

Her smile was brilliant and alluring… I couldn’t look away.

My worst fears were coming true. I’d been kidnapped and taken to the very witch that had once told me I failed her. The person who raised me as a child, only to bitterly regret ever welcoming me into her life in the first place. I had been her daughter… her protégé… and eventually, her abortion.

And I knew why. Without my powers, her deepest, darkest desires could never be realized.

I wanted to shout… to curse her for forcing me into her presence once more… but then the second figure entered the cavern, sucking the breath from my lungs.

This charred, monstrous husk of a man nearly made me vomit. I smelled his sour odor and saw his wicked grin.

“Matthias!” I shrieked.

“Welcome home, little one,” he said with a sneer. “It’s good to have you back with your true family.”

I closed my eyes and prayed that it was a nightmare, but the energy I received from their presence forced me to realize how real this all was.

~Fire.~

~Melting bodies.~

~Loved ones holding dying mates.~

~Screaming mothers searching for lost children.~

And worst of all…

~Devina and Matthias’s smiling faces… nodding… whispering… urging me to make the fire burn hotter… so we could destroy all who dared to get in our way...~

Holly

In a matter of minutes, I would be one with Zillana.

I held her hand and smiled as she found the correct path.

“The others cannot see how special you are,” she told me during the walk.

She had started our private studies within the confines of the university—the secret underground meeting room where she helped mold my powers. Now, she was leading me to a faraway clearing in the forest.

It was already marked with a large pentagram drawn in salt, candles burning at each point of the star.

In a small cage, off to the side, was the very cat that helped me learn to strip a being of magic. The cat meowed its annoyance, but Zillana ignored it, instead turning to me with her widening smile.

“Are you ready?” she asked. “Because I want to show you true greatness.”

I nodded my head enthusiastically. “If you believe this is my destiny… then I’ll do anything for you.”

To my surprise, she responded by giving me a kiss on the lips. It didn’t seem sensual, but my body grew warm regardless.

I couldn’t explain the exact feeling, but Professor Zillana was everything to me. And if this was what she truly wanted, then it was what I would do.

Zillana waved her hands and I began to float through the air, landing gently in the middle of the pentagram.

“Don’t move or this will all be in vain,” she warned.

I looked down to make sure that my feet didn’t disturb the outline of salt.

Zillana opened the cage and pulled out the cat before it could flee. It seemed the feline knew our intentions, and for that, I felt a pang of sadness.

It used to bother me how many blood sacrifices a witch must use to summon power, but it was a necessary part of our world. I shrugged off any worry.

Zillana put the cat’s ears to her mouth and whispered a chant. The cat floated over the circle, much as it had in the room, before coming to a stop before my face.

With a flick of her wrist, Zillana nearly snapped the cat’s neck off its body. Its poor head dangled to the side while the blood began to pour into the circle, pooling at my feet.

I cringed, suddenly feeling something more than sadness… this entire ceremony, dead cat and all, caused me to wonder if I’d made the wrong choice.

Yes, part of me felt something for Zillana. I admit… it felt like love. But did this ritual need to be so violent? So discreet?

“Zillana, I don’t know about…” I tried to warn her of my fears, but something was wrong. She snapped her fingers and my voice went completely silent.

I tried to speak, to ~scream,~ but it was no use.

“You have come before us searching for answers,” Zillana said.

~Us?~

I looked around only to realize that there were several dark figures, like haunted shadows, leering at me from the edge of the forest with eyes red like fire.

I wanted to move, to kick the salt and be free of the pentagram, but my body wouldn’t move.

“And we have been waiting so very long,” Zillana sneered. “Finally, you will be ours.”

She began a hurried chant, speaking words in a language I’d never heard before. The flames of the candlelight began to grow higher and higher, stoked by an unseen force.

I writhed… I screamed… but it was only in my mind as my stiff body felt completely out of sync with my thoughts.

The shadows at the edge of the clearing grew like the flames, their eyes burning bright, piercing my soul.

Then something sinister formed itself from the blood at my feet. A figure began to take shape and morph, growing into the body of a woman.

Black eyes opened inside the crimson head. I couldn’t look away. I’d seen her face before… had fought her and won… yet here she was standing before me inside the pentagram.

~Devina!~

My wrist began to burn. I knew what was happening without having to see. I was being marked… not by some ancient cult with the desire to help the world… but with a tattoo belonging to the cult of Devina.

I tried to look away, but those evil black eyes in the blood head wouldn’t let me.

She had found me… Zillana had led her to me… and now I was going to become one of ~them~! My worst nightmare was coming true. I was facing Devina once again.

She’d taken me by surprise…

But this time, I knew that she would win.